"Brilliant... Bruinius' work
[is] a masterpiece of American cultural history."

 SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE

“A powerful and engrossing read, as well as a poignant argument for humility, a plea that resonates in these hubristic times.”

 SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Bruinius deftly combines analysis of how the American quest for moral and social purity prepared people to accept pseudo-science as a basis for national policy..."

 THE NEW YORKER

"Remarkable... a model of the best sort of journalism of ideas, being an impressively researched and well-thought-out cultural history of the horrible crimes committed in the name of an idea—eugenics—that fraudulently posed as a science."

 RON ROSENBAUM, NEW YORK OBSERVER

This account of one of
Americas dirty little secrets is that rare thing for nonfiction:
a real page-turner It is hard to put this book down.

DONNA CHAVEZ in a starred
review for Booklist

“Bruinius takes us into the minds of the thought leaders of the time, showing us how otherwise well-respected people could countenance the now-unthinkable act of forced sterilization. . . . Chilling.”